Epileptic colonies were established in the 1800s to isolate epileptics and mentally ill people from society. They were part of the eugenics movement and aimed to remove epilepsy from the gene pool. Patients were often forced to move there and conditions were more like a prison than a treatment facility. As the popularity of eugenics […]
Plymouth Colony was a short-lived trading enterprise between English families and merchants in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The colony was founded by Separatists seeking religious freedom and financed by the Merchant Adventurers. Despite financial failures, Plymouth Colony is important in US history for its self-sustaining government and religious freedom. The Mayflower Compact established the first written […]
Proprietary colonies were privately supervised colonies with powers normally reserved for the government. They were granted to proprietors who could govern the land, levy taxes, make laws, and organize militias. However, the model invested people with too much power, leading nations to abandon it. Some early colonies in the Americas were proprietary colonies, but there […]
Penal colonies were used by nations to establish a presence in remote colonies and punish social wrongdoers. Prisoners were sent with overseers and basic supplies to farm, mine, fish, and engage in other activities. Penal colonies provided free government labor and a threat to maintain social order, but are now widely frowned upon as forced […]
